Running head: M8: IEP Assignment 1

M8: IEP ASSIGNMENT

Rebecca L. Lopez
University of Kansas

M8: IEP Assignment 2

Table of Contents
Student Information.3
Academic Characteristics..3
Developmental Characteristics.4
Social....4
Behavioral....4
Communicative.4
IEP Analysis and Needs..6
IEP MAPS.10
Strengths.11
Needs..12
A Day in Aniyahs Life..12
Parental Concerns...13
Hopes and Dreams..14
IEP Recommendations...15
References..16
Figure 1: IEP MAPS Document....17

M8: IEP Assignment 3

M8: IEP ASSIGNMENT
Student Information
The student that was chosen for the IEP assignment is named Aniyah. Aniyah is a 5 year
old girl who will be turning 6 on May 1st. This year is the first year she will be receiving
services through an IEP. Her IEP was anticipated to begin on March 10th, 2016 and is supposed
to be reevaluated on March 10th, 2019. The primary reason for Aniyahs IEP is because of a
developmental delay.
Academic Characteristics
Aniyah has many academic strengths observed by her teacher, Micaela Tillis, the
LD/Resource teacher, and the IA Celina. In reading, she is able to identify 47 letter names and
all letter sounds. Aniyah is also able to read 10 Kindergarten level sight words. In writing,
Aniyah is able to write her first name without a model. In math, Aniyah counts to 59 without
guidance and recognizes 5 numbers.
Some areas where Aniyah struggles academically include reading CVC words, reading
fluency and increasing sight word recognition. Right now Aniyah reads only 10 sight words,
when 35 have been taught explicitly and daily by the teacher. She struggles with blending sounds
together, often mixing up letter sounds. With writing she needs support with writing sentences
and sounding out words that she writes. She writes anywhere on her paper, instead of a straight
line from left to right. Aniyah also struggles with number recognition, number sense and
addition and subtraction word problems.

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Developmental Characteristics1
Aniyahs developmental characteristics are similar to her same-age peers. She will spend most
of Kindergarten as a 5 year old, where almost all of her peers have turned 6. There is no
noticeable difference developmentally.
Social. Aniyahs kindness helps her make many friends in the classroom. She has many
stories to share with others, and her peers are always willing to listen to what she has to say.
According to the IA, Celina, she is very kind on the playground. If another peer falls down,
Aniyah is there helping him/her up.
Behavioral. In regards to Aniyahs behavior, the IEP states that she is kind to others and
is respectful to adults. Her teacher notes that she is always kind to her peers. She shares nicely
with others, and is willing to help out any time she can. Aniyah described herself as a nice girl
who shares with her little sister and her friends. Aniyahs mom talked about how Aniyah loves to
play dress up, and she is good at telling stories about what she is playing during dress-up time.
Her behavior does not significantly and adversely impact the progress in the general curriculum.
Emotionally, Aniyahs teacher has noted that oftentimes Aniyah will come in first thing in
the morning with tears in her eyes. When asked why she is upset, she tells her teacher it is
because she wants to stay home with her mom. The crying in the morning occurred very often in
the beginning of the school year. They happen sparingly now. Aniyahs mom was initially
concerned about the crying that Aniyah exhibited. She thought it may be because Aniyah had
never been away from home. She also worries about how much both parents are at work,
because the family doesnt get to spend a lot of quality time together.
Communicative Aniyah is a verbal communicator. She has a mild delay with receptive
and expressive language skills. Aniyah is able to create simple sentences to describe pictures,

M8: IEP Assignment 5

retell stories, and share her ideas. However, she has difficulty following complex directions,
understanding basic language concepts and answering specific questions at times. The Speech
and Language Pathologist added into Aniyahs IEP that Aniyahs biggest challenge is with tasks
that involve the understanding of language concepts, following directions with more than one
step or one modifier, and answering specific questions about a story read aloud or current
activity. She also stated that Aniyah has some memory and processing difficulties, which likely
affects her overall communication abilities.
Based on the information that was gathered about Aniyah in her IEP, it was determined
that she has educational needs in the areas of basic reading skills, math, written expression, and
speech. The document includes an in-depth report about how her educators will meet those
needs throughout the duration of her IEP.

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IEP Analysis and Needs
In Aniyahs IEP, she does not have social and/or speech needs. It does have reading,
writing and math needs for Aniyah, as well as communication needs. Her communication needs
are more comprehension, than her working on her own speech. It is difficult to plan instruction
for Aniyah when the IEPs only focus is on academics, considering there is so much more to a
student than just his/her academic needs. I would need to find out her interests academically and
socially, so that I will be able to plan instruction that is of interest to her. This will help reel her
in and keep her engaged.
Aniyahs IEP states that the primary category of special education where she will be
receiving services is developmental delay. Aniyah has academic IEP goals for reading, writing,
math and speech. Her reading goal includes small group instruction, including repeated practice,
use of multi-sensory supports, and direct teacher support from the resource teacher in the
resource setting for reading skills. I help Aniyah complete these goals by working with her in my
classroom in a small group, where I can provide her with repeated practice, such as re-reading
decodable text, allowing her opportunities to ask and answer questions about text, and allowing
her time to listen to stories on an iPad. Her writing goal includes organizational and language
supports in a small group while in the resource setting for writing expression. I help Aniyah with
this goal by working with her either one-on-one or in a very small group, where she can have my
direct attention and supports. I scaffold my instruction based on what she is able to do, as far as
sounding out words and re-reading what she has already written. Her math goal includes small
group instruction, including repeated practice, use of manipulatives and direct teacher support in
the resource setting for math skills. I help Aniyah with her math goal by giving her
manipulatives to work with to help her solve problems, as well as work with her in a small group

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while she completes her assignment. Her speech goal includes consultative services to support
Aniyah in the general education and resource classrooms.
Looking at her annual goals, they were written with the Arizona Common Core State
Standards (Arizona Department of Education, 2016) in mind.

Her annual goal for reading

states that given 15 grade level words, Aniyah will decode and read each word 80% as measured
by teacher created assessments and RAPS360 assessments. Data will be collected at least once
each quarter by both Aniyahs general and special education teachers. This goal aligns with ELA
Standard 01.RF.3. Her annual goal for writing states that given a topic with adult support,
Aniyah will write at least 3 sentences about the topic 3 or higher as measured by Arizona
Holistic Writing Rubric Data and writing samples will be collected at least once a quarter by both
Aniyahs general and special education teachers. This goal aligns with ELA standard 01.W.5.
Aniyahs math goal states that Aniyah will correctly identify numbers up to 20 by name and by
creating sets to match each numbers 80% as measured by teacher created assessments. Data will
be collected by both Aniyahs general and special education teachers at least once a quarter. This
goal aligns with Math Standard K.CC.3. I will need to make sure to keep assessments frequently
for Aniyah in order to have the necessary information to support Aniyah and fulfil her IEP goals.
Individuals providing services to Aniyah include the general education teacher, special
education teacher and the speech and school language pathologist. The majority of Aniyahs
services will be provided in the general education classroom with her general education teacher.
Her teacher will work with her in a whole group setting, as well as small group and individual
settings. The type of setting will depend on her needs in specific areas, and whether or not she is
understanding the directions on the assignment. The special education teacher will be providing
Aniyah specialized instruction in the resource room in the areas of reading, writing and math.

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These services will occur for 30 minute time frames, four times a week. The SLP will be
providing Aniyah with consultative services for 30 minutes a month in the general education
and special education classrooms.
Aniyahs IEP mentions many accommodations that will be put into place for her. These
include: preferential seating, teacher ensuring student understands directions, use of
manipulatives, a desk model given of board talk, teacher frequently monitoring independent
work, and visual cues. All of these accommodations are easy to implement in the classroom
setting, and do not require any additional knowledge of procedures or requirements. These
accommodations are important for me as her general education teacher to keep in mind and
utilize daily, because they do help Aniyah succeed academically. For example, giving her a desk
model will help Aniyah focus on the task, rather than having to look around the room for
resources, leading to a potential distraction. Modifications in Aniyahs IEP include use of
manipulatives. After speaking with her special education teacher, I discovered that the main
focus of the manipulatives is during math assignments, although manipulatives can be used in
any core subject area. For example, while learning about digraphs I have some clothes pins and
laminated cards that Aniyah uses to help her remember which digraph matches specific sounds.
In the article A Collaborative Approach to Planning in the Content Areas for Students
with Learning Disabilities: Accessing the General Curriculum, the importance of a collaborative
planning process between a general education teacher and a special education teacher (Jitendra,
A. K., Edwards, L. L., Choutka, C. M., & Treadway, P. S., 2002). General education teachers are
knowledgeable in content knowledge and curriculum and special education teachers are
knowledgeable about ways of learning and motivational strategies that are required for students
to have access to the general curriculum. This is important to keep in mind as Aniyahs general

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education teacher, because I want to make sure that I am doing what is best for Aniyah in order
for her to be successful academically while in my classroom. The special education teacher is
going to have insights that I may not be aware of yet, and I need to make sure we are working
together. When I collaborate with the Special Education teacher, I will explain what we are
working on in class. For example, last week we were working in math on writing numbers to
100. I asked the Special Education teacher what were appropriate modifications and/or
accommodations that would work best for Aniyah specifically. She told me that a desk model of
the 100s chart would be a great modification for her, as well as having her write her numbers to
50 instead of 100. In ELA, while working on retelling Eric Carles The Very Hungry Caterpillar,
the Special Education teacher told me I should find some sort of a visual manipulative so that
Aniyah can retell the story with props. Before the lesson as a class, we made a caterpillar out of
a paper bag, and drew the different foods the caterpillar ate on each day. When the lesson began,
Aniyah was able to retell the story using the props successfully. Working together definitely
helps Aniyah reach her goals stated in her IEP.

M8: IEP Assignment 10

IEP MAPS
The Making Action Plans, or MAPS, was completed while interviewing Aniyah and her
mother, as well as the school resource/LD teacher, Misha Tillis and the Kindergarten IA, Celina.
The interview took place after school on Wednesday April 27, 2016 in Aniyahs Kindergarten
classroom.
According to York, Vandercook & Gaylord, MAPS is a positive and affirming process
where a team of adults and children work together to creatively dream and plan, producing
results that will further the inclusion of individual childrens access to education (1988).
Knowing the power of the MAPS process, I was excited to sit down with our team and create my
first MAPS.
During the MAPS meeting, I worked together with Aniyah, her mother Virginia, Misha
and the IA that I have in the room with me for an hour each day, Celina to explore our hopes and
dreams, strengths and needs, goals and supports for Aniyah. The MAPS image was drawn on the
board, and it had pictures depicting what all team members see as dreams for Aniyah, as well as
her strengths that she has now. The visual also depicted the needs for Aniyah in the future. The
awesomeness of MAPS meetings is that they require participation from every team member.
There is a space on the MAPS diagram for every persons input. We work together to discover
what Aniyah needs, so that we can create goals together that can be used in her IEP. The goals
for Aniyah that we ended up creating were goals for math, reading and writing. Developing
these goals with Aniyah in the room, and having Aniyah contribute her own thoughts about her
learning is important, because then Aniyah will understand just how many people are working
with her, to help her achieve those goals. Aniyah seemed really happy about this process,

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commenting about how cool it was to have her mom and her teacher in the same room
together. She also said that she was happy to have help with school.
Strengths
Aniyahs strengths are mostly in building and maintaining relationships. Aniyah shared
with the group how she is good at being nice to her friends and playing with her younger sister.
Her mom added that she is friendly with everyone, going on to describe how Aniyah takes care
of her younger cousins at family gatherings, while Misha added that Aniyah always has a big
smile on her face. Her smile can be seen everywhere throughout the school, including in the
classroom, walking down the halls, and playing outside. Finally, Celina added that Aniyah is
willing to participate in everything, and she shares well with others. Celina works with Aniyah
every day in a small group or individual setting, and stated that Aniyah shares her chalk and
markers with her peers and waits her turn patiently if Celina is working with another person.
Academically, I commented on how Aniyah can write her whole first name, and part of her last
name. She knows almost all of her letter names and sounds as well. These strengths will help
her continue on her journey academically because recognizing letter sounds is a strong
foundational skill to have while learning to read and write. This combination of contributions
about Aniyahs strengths as a person brought a big smile to Aniyahs face, just like Misha
mentioned she always has!
Aniyah also enjoys learning through games and through play. During the school day, her
teacher will use games to help students with both new and old concepts, such as digraphs, cvc
words, number recognition, addition and subtraction, etc. Aniyah commented saying that she
likes the games because they are fun. Her teacher noted that she pays close attention to
instructions when games are being introduced. She is a hard worker, which is great to keep in

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mind as I think of different strategies to help Aniyah with the areas where she needs more
assistance.
Needs
Aniyah needs support with reading and foundational reading skills. She also needs
support with writing. She requires individualized and explicit instruction in these areas to help
ensure she is understanding what the expectations for her are, as well as help her recognize and
recall the skills that we have been working on in class (i.e. finger spaces, capital letters at the
beginning, sounding out words, sight word recognition, etc).
In addition, Aniyah needs support with math in regards to number recognition, word
problems, and rote counting. She also requires individualized and explicit instruction in these
areas in order to help support her understanding of these mathematical concepts.
Aniyah would benefit from knowing when to ask for help, and understanding that asking
for help is okay for her to do, and is beneficial to her. Oftentimes she is found looking at her
peers work and copying, or taking the assignment in a direction that it was not intended to go.
A Day in Aniyahs Life
Talking with Aniyah and her mother about her home experiences brought about a bit of
tension in the group. Virginia was comfortable with those of us in the room, but their family has
been going through a lot lately. Aniyahs mother and father are going through a divorce right
now, and it has been a chaotic process, to say the least. Aniyah talks about her father a lot during
the school day, and how she enjoys playing with him at the park and going to the fair with him.
She is very attached to him. Virginia is working 12 hour days, Monday through Friday, so
Aniyah doesnt see her mom very much either. With her sister, Aniyah is mostly cared for by her
grandmother and her babysitter at this time. This bring on a large amount of anxiety for

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Aniyahs mother, although since it all began, I havent noticed a change in Aniyah at all. When
asked how she feels about everything going on, she responded with, my dad has an apartment
and my mom has a house and I have an apartment and a house! Anakin (a student in class with
Aniyah) lives in the apartments! Overall, although Aniyah may have a lot going on at home,
she is still trying hard to learn and grow at school. She has a positive attitude, and is always
willing to learn and participate.
Parental Concerns
Throughout the school year, Aniyahs mother and grandmother have been in contact with
me, wanting to know how she was doing academically. When Aniyah began Kindergarten, she
did not have an IEP. In fact her IEP was just finalized about a month ago. Virginia expressed to
me how she was concerned about Aniyahs academics, because her 3 year old sister was picking
up and holding onto more information than Aniyah was. We have gone back and forth
throughout the year checking in with Aniyah and about her progress. Now that her IEP is in
place, and Virginias concerns have been addressed, there is an evident sense of relief. Aniyahs
mother is now mostly concerned with how the shift in her family life is going to affect Aniyah,
and how she hopes it doesnt affect her success academically. In class, I can use this information
to make sure she is doing okay emotionally by checking in with her. Providing Aniyah the
opportunity to talk with other students in the class about family situations would benefit her,
because a large majority of my students are living in non-traditional homes. For her to find a
way to relate to others about her situation may help her cope, if she needs to cope at all. Also,
there is a school counselor that is available for Aniyah if she ever needed adult support that I felt
unable to provide.

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Hopes and Dreams
During the meeting, we talked about dreams that everyone has for Aniyah. She began by
telling us all that her first dream is to be a princess. She enjoys dressing up, dancing and singing.
She also talked about wanting to go to the park and the fair with her dad, so that they can play
together.
Her mother shared that she hopes Aniyah will make progress with her reading and
writing, and that she will make more friends. She talked about wanting Aniyah to be able to read
her the bedtime story one day, instead of Virginia always reading. I responded by offering to
send home some of the decodable texts that Aniyah is reading in class. Virginia and Aniyah both
agreed that would be a great resource for them to have. I can gather more decodable texts for
Aniyah that another teacher may have in his/her room as well. Virginia talked about how Aniyah
is very kind, but spends a lot of time by herself. She hopes that Aniyah will be more bold and
make some more friends on her own. Some other hopes and dreams for Aniyah include having
the confidence to write independently, asking for help when needed, and for Aniyah to go to
college when she is older. These hopes and dreams will help guide our decision-making with
Aniyah and her academics.

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IEP Recommendations
Working with Aniyah as her general education teacher, I would like her IEP to have more
information as to what strategies work well for Aniyah, as well as what helps her learn best. The
IEP felt generic, as if it could apply to just anyone. However, Aniyah is an individual. Her plan
should feel more individualized. For example, if I did not know who Aniyah was and I did not
work directly with Aniyah I would want to look at her goals and see specific details to help guide
the way I would want to instruct her. In Language Arts, her annual goal describes how by the
end of the year Aniyah should be able to decode 80% of 15 grade level words. Data will be
collected quarterly, but which words does she already know? What strategies does she respond
well to? I feel that Aniyah would benefit deeply from her teachers being able to carry some sort
of consistency throughout grade levels as to maintaining certain procedures and strategies with
Aniyah throughout her academic career.
In conclusion, Aniyah is surrounded by people who want to support Aniyah in meeting
her goals. If possible, it would benefit those who are supporting Aniyah to have access to more
specific information as far as what we already know that is working well for her, and what she is
not responding to. This can help her meet and accomplish her goals in a more successful and
efficient way.

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References
Arizona Department of Education. (2016). K-12 Academic Standards. Retreived from
http://www.azed.gov/standards-practices/.

Jitendra, A. K., Edwards, L. L., Choutka C. M., & Treadway, P. S. (2002). A collaborative
approach to planning in the content areas for students with learning disabilities:
Accessing the general curriculumm. Learning Disabilities Research & Practice, 17(4),
265.
York, J. Vandercook, T. and Gaylord, V. (1988). Integrated Education: MAPS to get you there.
Impact: Feature Issue on Integrated Education.
https://www.ssdmo.org/cool_tools/inclusive/section_5.pdf.

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Figures

Figure 1. IEP MAPS Document. This figure shows the original compilation of the information
gathered at the MAPS meeting for Aniyah done on a white board. This information will later be
used to create an effective IEP for Aniyah.